Newly released dispatch audio from Maryland Transportation Authority police indicates that officers were informed one minute before the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge to divert traffic.
The dispatch audio obtained by DMV News Live reveals that MDTA authorities alerted nearby officers to reroute traffic away from the Francis Scott Key Bridge just one minute before it collapsed.
In the MDTA dispatch audio, an MDTA officer can be heard instructing fellow officers:
“I need one of you guys on the north side, one to the south side, and one of you guys on hold all traffic on the Key Bridge.”
“There’s a ship approaching that lost its steering. So until we get that under control, we’ve got to stop all traffic,” the MDTA officer added.
MDTA authorities received advance notice from the crew of the Dali cargo ship, who issued a mayday call just moments before the ship collided with the bridge.
During a press conference, Governor Wes Moore praised the crew of the Dali cargo ship for promptly issuing a mayday call, which provided officers with the opportunity to halt traffic leading to the bridge.
Here’s the audio:
Here’s video with some of this afternoon’s on-scene footage from Dundalk, Maryland. Included as well is the police dispatch channel audio of the incident. (via @Broadcastify/ YouTube) @TheMDTA Police were ‘pre-alerted’ by ~1 min & managed to divert traffic within ~90 seconds. https://t.co/SBMrjWAeSa pic.twitter.com/26O8zUssvR
— DMV News Live (@DCNewsLive) March 26, 2024
